Street Art: The kind of art which brings with it a purpose to life

Parikshit Vivekanand | The News Minute | November 25, 2014 | 1:03 pm IST“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls”. -Pablo PicassoFor the longest time, the country has witnessed infrastructural walls being defaced with messages from political parties, lovers scribbling their confessions, paan-eaters using it as spittoon and the list continues. Here is a street artist called Yantr who believes in bringing an end to that to fulfill a larger purpose in life. He calls himself a street artist and does not wish to be tagged as a graffiti artist as most of his work is done on walls for which he has acquired permission unlike graffiti artists he says.Pradyushit : Polluted is a series of walls in Pune which raises awareness against water pollutionThe purpose associated with his street art is to establish a communicative medium through visual representation of socially relevant themes. Yantr who started his career as a graphic designer is a street artist who believes that walls are canvases for sending socio-political messages that would help society.While talking to the Newsminute, Yantr said, “I wanted to change my medium of creative expression, wanted to create something for the general public. The very same public, we sell everything to. Be it products, services or entertainment. I want to give them something for free”. This Sea Monster at Kochi Biennale 2012, was created to raise against rampant development in once peaceful cityMost of his work holds strong messages about socially relevant topics but has a strong mechanical undertone evident in his style of artwork which makes it unique. When questioned about his pattern or style of work he said, “My father owns an Automobile Garage. I have seen lot of engines, machines, and mechanical parts from my childhood. I am immensely fascinated by them, and that's why I call myself Yantr - Sanskrit for Machine”. After working with a bunch of Advertising agencies and Design studios, Yantr realized that street art was his calling to which he said, “This time I was not selling a car, shampoo or biscuits. I wanted to use the wall as my canvas and compel people to think. I wanted to make them aware of the society they live in, where some things are just not right”. This project covered 978 meter of Tihar Jails wall, claiming to be the longest Mural in Asia. It depicts the change of heart a convict goes through once inside. The theme of the piece is reformation. This piece of art is inspired by the supersonic-type plane, the Pushpak Vimana from the Ramayana. Yantr reinterpreted the flying machine in his own style above a Valmiki temple. This art piece was made to actively protest and to create awareness to Save the One Horned Rhino in Assam.His work can be seen at various locations in the country from the walls of Tihar jail to his interpretation of the Pushpak Vimana in Delhi to his save the one horned Rhino murals in Assam to his massive wall mural at the Kochi Muziris Biennale. He also plans to cover the whole of North East for his SAVE RHINO campaign murals.“Street Art and Graffiti in the Indian context is going big as organizations like St+Art Foundation have already conducted two International Street Art Festivals in the country”, he says. He is currently attending a street art festival in Mumbai. These festivals are never short of an audience as a lot of people have started showing interest in the medium.When the Newsminute asked him about the expectation from people in terms of street artist, he said, “I would urge people to be more open to street art, appreciate the medium and give commissioned work to artists like us, so that we can sustain doing what we love”Image courtesy: Yantr